The invention can be used generically for high-density automatic storing of very many types of goods and packages.
Specifically, though not exclusively, the invention is usefully applied for automatic storing of objects and packages of various types, but which can be stored on trays or in preferably drawer-like containers, in locations where there is no great vertical height availability.
The invention is particularly useful and installable in normal places for commercial activity which have ceiling room no greater than that usually available in normal dwellings.
Numerous types of vertical automatic stores exist in the prior art. One very widely-used type comprises, in its basic configuration: two vertical structures, reciprocally facing each other and identifying a vertically-arranged working space, each of which structures is made up of a plurality of planes or cells which are singly destined to house at least one container or tray, and are superposed so as to be facing one another on a vertically-lying surface; a lift truck able to transport at least one said container or tray and able to move, on command, inside the work space which the cells or planes face, and able to be positioned facing one of the cells or planes and interact there-with, removing or inserting a single container or tray. Also provided are devices for moving the containers or trays from the lift truck to an external transport system and vice versa, or for enabling the lift truck to transfer externally of the store to unload and/or receive containers or trays.
These realisations however have the limitation of having to be structurally suited for industrial applications i.e. with high vertical working space and necessitating location in an industrial environment.
The main aim of the present invention is to create a device for automatically storing objects and packages of various nature, which can be stored in trays or containers, which can be located spaces presenting ceiling heights no higher than can usually be found in normal dwelling-type buildings.
A further aim of the invention is to create a device for automatically storing objects, which device exhibits a parallelepiped conformation which is modularly extensible in a horizontal direction perpendicular to a front section which remains constant.
Some advantages of the invention are its simplicity of construction, in that its static parts can be made of sheet steel, and its functional simplicity.
These aims and advantages and more besides are all attained by the object of the invention, as it is characterised in the appended claims.
IN the invention, at least one vertical structure is constituted by plurality of planes, set one upon another, each of which can house at least one container. A lift truck is able to transport at least one of the containers and can move in a vertical direction in a vertical work space parallel to the vertical surface on which the planes are aligned. The lift truck on command can be positioned facing one of the planes, and can interact with the planes in order to remove or insert a single container. The invention comprises a plurality of the vertical structures which are arranged parallel and afford a plurality of the work spaces for movement of the lift truck and are conformed to enable transfer of the lift truck at least from one of the work spaces to another of the work spaces. Means are provided to operate a transfer of the lift truck from one of the work spaces to another as well as to displace of the lift truck at least in a vertical direction along a single work space.